A Gemma sweater dress hack – Named Clothing

I’m a little late with this post but it’s a great one to be starting off the new year with!

This is for the last #SewMyStyle project of 2017 where we could pick any pattern from the latest Earth Science collection from Named Clothing to be our last piece! I love Named Patterns so I was super excited about this!

I opted to make the Gemma because I loved the 80s throwback style with the panelled colour blocked front and the standing collar.

It comes as 2 versions – one a fitted midi length dress or a loose fit sweater.

I went for the sweater version and made it a bit longer so it could be worn as a dress! (I’m all about the sweater dress. I’ve made loads of Linden sweater dresses for myself and my sisters!).

Now my biggest trouble was deciding on fabrics!

I had a lovely grey loop back jersey from Guthrie & Ghani which I wanted to use as my main fabric. I then had to decide on what would go with it – that was the tricky part! Mostly because I was limiting myself to whatever I already had in my fabric stash!

I ended up sketching out about 10 different colour combinations, each used different coloured fabrics as well as placements. After that I went with was I felt worked best visually.

Which was this…

I used an app to colour in the Gemma line drawing to get a realistic idea on how it would look! (If you want to have a physical copy, Named have a free downloaded sheet to colour your own Gemmas in!). It’s definitely worth doing if you’re not quite sure on colours! I went for quite a plain colourway in the end. I’m not sure if I’ll regret not going for something more fun later on!

I used a white brushed back polycotton jersey for the middle panels and a flecked navy French terry for the lower panel.

The different fabric weights and stretch vary slightly but not enough to affect the overall garment.

I lengthened the back piece and lower front panel by 20cm each to make it dress length.

The panelling is so much fun to sew together. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle! The instructions are very clear and it makes the construction a breeze!

I chose to ignore the instructions for the elastic at the waist and cuffs and instead added a contrast ribbing. Just for fun!

I also added in pockets, though I stupidly made them slightly too low so I’ll be fixing that a little later.

Here’s the final result!

I feel like I’m channeling an 80s/90s après-ski look… I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing! Lol!

I do want to try the fitted dress version of this pattern at some point too. I’ve seen so many lovely velvet versions of it!

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8 comments

So cute! You’re so right that with this type of puzzle/colour blocking it’s best to sketch it out first. That way you can keep track of where everything is going as you’re assembling it too. I’m sure this sweater/dress will get loads of wear this winter 🙂 So cozy.